


That Famous Happy Ending

by decaf and sleep (kohiii)



Category: Vampire Knight (Anime & Manga)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Canon Compliant (kind of), Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Multi, Post-Canon, Reincarnation, Songfic, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24594700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kohiii/pseuds/decaf%20and%20sleep
Summary: Prompt: Soulmate AU. All the angst. No happy ending.written for the Challenge Accepted!K/Z discord serverevent
Relationships: Cross Yuuki/Kiryuu Zero (implied), Cross Yuuki/Kuran Kaname (implied), Kiryuu Zero/Kuran Kaname
Comments: 6
Kudos: 71
Collections: Challenged Accepted! KZ/ZK





	That Famous Happy Ending

**[很久以后](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BEFukvLZfI) (Long After)** **  
** 见你是种幸运 / 分开却是天意  
_Chance brought us together, fate tore us apart_

The first time they meet, he doesn't realize that Zero is his soulmate.

He is bleeding and wounded, and he can feel the press of his inhuman fangs digging into the soft flesh of his mouth in desperate hunger. 

He's frightened. 

He doesn't know who or _what_ he is. His only memory is of the desolate landscape around him, the burning pain in his chest, and the unbearable thirst in his throat.

He is disoriented and confused when he stumbles upon the silver-haired stranger, and he thinks that the human is a fool for putting his own life at risk to care for a monster like him. Even at the sight of his glowing red eyes and pointed fangs, the human stays by his side and nurses him back to health. 

The human brings him warm baked bread and carefully cooked meals, and when they realize that the thirst in his throat can only be quenched by one thing the human starts to bring him fresh kills. The taste of animal blood is disgusting, but it manages to temporarily satisfy his hunger and he's grateful that the human cares enough to go so far for him.

The human's name is Zero, and he thinks he's never met a more perfect person in his life. Not that he remembers anything about his own life. 

When Zero asks him for his name, he doesn't know how to respond. 

Zero is kind enough not to press the issue. 

When they discover that they have matching marks on their bodies -- a circle of nine red orchids around a single white lily -- he learns about what it means to have a _soulmate._

His perfect other half. His everything. 

He thinks he likes it, this idea that someone -- Zero -- is meant to be _his._ That he's meant to be Zero's. 

Zero starts calling him 'Kuran'. For the ring of nine orchids, his soulmate explains. Because before they had met, the orchids on Zero's mark had been dull and lifeless. 

Kuran, he repeats after Zero. He thinks he likes that too. 

Life with Zero is wonderful. Perfect. They have to be careful, because the townsfolk are nervous and uneasy around creatures like him. But Zero is patient and lovely and he doesn't mind choking down the disgusting animal blood if it means he can stay by Zero's side. 

But then Zero dies. 

It's an accident -- something that happens to humans all the time. Zero is too stupid and brave and kind, and one minute Zero is breathing and the next he's cradling Zero's lifeless body in his arms. The child that Zero rescues babbles frightened nonsense and tearful apologies, but all he can think about is how Zero is never coming back to him. 

That night, when he discovers the faded lily on his body, he thinks he goes a little mad.

* * *

**[以后别做朋友](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew4VvF0DPMcI) (The Distance of Love)** **  
** 有些梦不能说出口  
_Some dreams cannot be spoke of_

The second time they don't meet, and his life remains devoid of warmth.

His days are barren and empty, just like the world around him, and not even meeting _her_ changes that. He stares at her a little too long, because her starlight hair and kind eyes remind him of the beautiful soul that he lost so long ago. But she's not Zero, and all he feels is the hollow ache of disappointment in his chest.

When she asks him for his name, he tells her that he doesn't remember.

Because Kuran died with Zero on that day, and thinking about the way his soulmate's corpse cooled in his arms only drives him deeper into the pit known as despair. He buried Kuran when he buried Zero's body, his fingers carving out dirt and rock to lay Kuran and Zero to rest side by side. 

She wisely chooses not to say anything on the matter. 

She gives him a new name -- Kaname -- and he tries it out. 

Kaname. 

He thinks he likes it. 

Zero probably would've liked it too. 

She breathes meaning into his life by giving him an identity and purpose, and Kaname decides that he wants to create a world that Zero would've liked to live in. Maybe if he does, Zero will someday come back to him.

The two of them become travel companions, then friends, and then something more.

Not lovers, not friends, but...

He thinks he might love her. Not the way he loved Zero, deep and absolute, but in the way that someone might love a person that reminds them of their most beloved. 

But then she leaves him too, like the way Zero did, and Kaname is once again alone. 

The years after are unbearable.

They make him a king, the lonely king on his lonely throne. 

He has a family now, but he doesn't know how to love the woman who is his queen and the offspring he has with her. It's only a minor relief that she doesn't expect him to love her back, because she too is busy mourning the loss of her own soulmate.

He thinks he catches sight of familiar lilac eyes during a meeting with the hunters, but he can't be sure and he never sees those eyes again.

He wakes up one day to see his lily is a bright white against his skin, but the vibrant color doesn't last. When the despair becomes too much bear and threatens to drag him down into its madness, Kaname falls into eternal sleep. 

At least in his dreams he can pretend that Zero is still by his side.

* * *

**[千里之外](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocDo3ySyHSI) (Far Away) ** **  
** 我送你离开 / 千里之外  
_I'm sending you off, a thousand miles away_

The third time they meet, he doesn't remember until it's too late. 

After Ridou's death, the missing holes in his memory come flooding in, and Kaname nearly crumbles under the weight of the realization that the boy he's designated as Yuuki's knight is supposed to be _his._

_His_ soulmate.

_His_ other half.

_His_ one and only.

He doesn't really remember anything after that. 

With Yuuki and Zero's bond, he had been so sure they were soulmates, and he hadn't hesitated to take advantage of the supposed connection to manipulate Zero into devoting his life to her. 

But he's wrong.

He's been wrong this entire time.

He should have known. The white lily of his soulmark has never blazed brighter than the day he first saw Zero in the Chairman's house, a look of absolute anguish on his face as he rushed towards Kaname with a knife in hand. 

His head is numb and his heart is racing, and when Yuuki gently tries to ask him what's wrong he doesn't know how to respond. 

What...what has he done? 

Why was he unable to remember until now? 

He wants to succumb to his madness. His every waking moment is plagued by overwhelming guilt and desperate desire, and the monster inside him stirs restlessly with the need to do _something._ In one of his more crazed moments, Kaname wonders if offering up every last drop of the cursed blood flowing in his veins will be enough to earn him Zero's forgiveness. 

His behavior is scaring Yuuki, he knows that. But at the moment Kaname simply does not have the willpower to remember why she is supposed to be important to him. Zero is the only thing that matters in this godforsaken world, but Zero hates him. 

If he cannot be forgiven, then the only course he can seek is atonement for his sins. 

He will gift Zero the life that he ripped callously away, and he will sacrifice his own to make sure the world Zero lives in will be a peaceful one. 

It's an entirely selfish decision, of course. He knows that he's ultimately doing this for his own sake, because a world where Zero hates him is a world he does not want to exist in. 

As he pulls Yuuki and Zero into what he believes is one final embrace, he thinks that in that very moment that Zero has managed to hate him a little less. Perhaps Zero will never be able to forgive him, but that's alright. Zero's acknowledgement of his sacrifice -- his gift -- is more than enough. 

His heart aches, but he hopes that Zero and Yuuki will be able to find happiness together after everything he's put them through. 

* * *

**[三寸天堂](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2s8m-3S8Oo) (Three Inches of Heaven)** **  
** 下一页你亲手写上的离别  
_On the next page, you personally wrote our farewell_

The fourth time they don't meet, and his heart is broken even before it has a chance to love.

They tell him that his name is Kaname. 

They tell him that _she_ sacrificed her life to give him a chance at happiness.

They don't talk about _him._

But they don't need to. Kaname instinctively knows there's something -- someone -- missing from his side, and he's more than aware of the secretive glances Ai and Ren exchange when they first catch sight of the faded lily on his skin. He doesn't say anything. He doubts he can convince them to say anything when they don't want to. 

If Kaname is to be honest with himself, there's a part of him that doesn't want to know. There's a part of him that tells him that he will not be able to live with the truth. 

He finds the letter by accident. 

It's addressed to _him,_ to Kuran Kaname. 

He opens it. 

He wishes he hadn't. 

Zero's words are heavy. They speak of unimaginable horrors, of terror and torment, of a desperate longing for death. Of bitterness, of learning how to live, of understanding, of _forgiveness._

It's too much. 

He doesn't think this "Kaname" his soulmate is describing in the letter deserves any of the gentle, kindhearted forgiveness Zero offers. He doesn't know why Zero is asking for "Kaname's" forgiveness for the years of animosity between them. He doesn't know why "Kaname" had so cruelly used the one person who was able to understand his long years of loneliness. 

Zero writes that he knows Kaname will return one day. The circle of nine orchids on his skin has never truly faded away, and Zero knows that Kaname's soul is still wandering the warmth. 

Zero writes that he wishes for Kaname's happiness. There are too many years of pain between them, but with time Zero has come to understand more of Kaname's fathomless sorrow.

Zero writes that he hopes Kaname can move on. Just as he was slowly able to come to terms with the agony of his past, he wishes that Kaname is able to do the same. In spite of their previously antagonistic relationship, he doesn't believe Kaname deserves a life of misery. 

Zero writes that he is sorry he can never fulfill that emptiness in Kaname's heart. Their connection to each other as soulmates could not save them from their pain, and so the best they can do now is put everything behind them. That this is a final farewell. 

Kaname's heart hurts from the ache of losing someone that's never been his. 

When Ai and Ren find him, he asks about Zero. 

They look at each other carefully, but Kaname is patient. It's clear from his mark that Zero is no longer in this world, and if this is the only way Kaname will ever get to know his soulmate then he will take whatever he can get. 

* * *

**[都几岁了](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIGWEMk1J0I) (How Old Are You)** **  
** 这一路上 / 有些人 / 该遗忘  
_On this journey, there are some people who should be forgotten_

The fifth time they meet, he tries to convince himself that it's best to let Zero go.

Kaname's brief life as a human doesn't last long. Something inside him goes terribly wrong, and Ai is forced to turn him before his body gives up on him. 

He's quiet in the days after. 

The sun's gentle warmth is now a scorching heat, and the manifestation of his beastly nature is something he has a hard time getting used to. Kaname wonders if this is how it felt for Zero. Even if the loss of his humanity feels absolutely devastating, he thinks that he can at least feel a little closer to Zero this way. 

His memories slowly come back to him, but most of them remain frustratingly out of his reach. Kaname is desperate to tear through his mind to find every miniscule detail he can about Zero. The first time he collapses from the effort, his daughters sit him down and Ai reprimands him for pushing himself. 

But they don't understand. 

How can they? 

Since the very beginning, the two of them have always had each other, confident in the patterns on their skin that marked them as soulmates. They've never known what it feels like to have your other half ripped from your side again and again. 

He eventually leaves when it becomes too much. Kaname loves both of them dearly, but every glimpse of Ren is a painful reminder of Zero. Ai opposes the idea at first and protests that it isn't safe for Kaname to be out on his own, but it's with Ren's quiet understanding that she finally lets him go. Kaname tries not dwell on how Ren's striking eyes are much too like her father's. 

For a long time, he drifts from place to place like an untethered balloon. It's eerily reminiscent of his earliest memories, when he was no one with nothing. 

So naturally, it's only when Kaname is on the verge of collapse that Zero finds him again. 

Zero doesn't remember any of the lives he spent with Kaname, but he still extends the same kindness to the monstrous stranger he encounters. Despite his wary gaze, he doesn't shy away from Kaname's burning red eyes and protruding fangs. 

Kaname doesn't want to let Zero go. 

He should. He knows that. 

He should let them part ways so that the two of them can move on from this endless cycle of grief. 

But he doesn't _want_ to. 

* * *

**[青花瓷](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y1QRFt6huo) (Blue and White Porcelain)** ****  
天青色等烟雨 / 而我在等妳  
_Within the blue mist, I'm waiting for you_

There is a saying -- if you truly love someone, you'll set them free. If they come back, they're yours. If they don't, they never were. 

So Kaname finally makes a decision. 

He sets Zero free. 

He opens the door to Zero's metaphoric cage, and watches as Zero flies away from him.

**Author's Note:**

> you can blame everything on milkteas, since she requested the unhappy ending :^D


End file.
